YS Sharmila Spends The Night At Congress Office To Avoid House Arrest Ahead Of 'Chalo Secretariat' March

Political chaos further took a turn in Andhra Pradesh as Congress’ state unit chief YS Sharmila, sister of YSRCP founder and chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, spent the night at her party office in a bid to avoid house arrest.

The development came a day before the Congress’ ‘Chalo Secretariat’ protest on Thursday, which was also led by Sharmila Reddy.

A viral video, doing rounds on the internet, shows Sharmila sleeping on a mattress on the floor of her office in Vijaywada.

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The ‘Chalo Secretariat’ protest demands that the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government address the issues faced unemployed youth and students.

Sharmila, on Wednesday, told the media at Andhra Ratna Bhavan that her brother and the Andhra Pradesh chief minister has failed to address these issues in the last five years.

“If we call for protest on behalf of the unemployed, will you try to keep us under house arrest? Don’t we have the right to protest in a democracy? Is it not shameful that as a woman I have been forced to evade the police and spend the night in the Congress Party office to avoid house arrest,” Sharmila posted on X over possibility of her house arrest.

She slammed the state government saying that “they are afraid of us”.

“Are we terrorists…or anti-social forces? They are trying to stop us… It means they (the government) are afraid of us. They are trying to hide our incompetence, the real truth. Even if they try to stop us, stop our workers, our struggle on behalf of the unemployed will not stop,” she further said in her post.

As her party’s ‘Chalo Secretariat’ protest march began, Sharmila once again took to the microblogging site to post that they have been surrounded by thousands of policemen. “Iron fences have been put up and we have been held hostage. If we stand on the side of the unemployed, they are arresting us. You are dictators who are trying to stop us. Your actions are proof of this. YCP Sarkar should apologise to the unemployed.”

Lok Sabha MP and Congress in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Manickam Tagore also launched a scathing attack on the state government and said it had a “dictatorial approach”.

“Standing up against Jagan’s arrogance and standing for democracy: Joining @YS_Sharmila and countless others in condemning the unjust behavior of Jagan’s police for the suppression of democratic rights against advocates for the unemployed. It’s time to uphold the fundamental principles of democracy and respect the right to peaceful protest,” Tagore wrote in a post on X.

Meanwhile, massive deployment of police companies were seen at the Andhra Pradesh Congress committee’s headquarters in Vijaywada. This is to ensure the maintenance of law and order situation in the area amid Congress’ call to march to the Secretariat.

Tagore slammed the police deployment as well and said, “APCC HQ surrounded by Jagan Police in the early morning.

Why? APCC President YS Sharmila Reddy is scheduled to lead a march to AP Secretariat against the unemployment crisis in AP. Standing up for the youth of AP a sine? Why is peaceful protest not allowed? #ChalloSecretariat.”

YS Sharmila, on January 4, had joined the Congress at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi. She merged her YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) with Congress in the presence of the grand-old party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader Rahul Gandhi.

(With ANI inputs)